Rick Beato... yeah or nay?

[Rarebird]

Commercial radio is not selling music, it is a platform that has 'commercial real estate' for sale i.e. space where commercials can be aired. The music is there to provide a pleasant aural backdrop, to be as inoffensive as possible so you keep listening, so their stations remains relevant to those who are buying their airtime slots at these stations.

Completely agree. Those stations aren't about music, there are about selling advertisement space and to flush down the advertisements they play music that is aimed at the largest part of their audience, but doesn't disturb them. I think I read somewhere that one of the commercial stations in The Netherlands has a playlist of 600 songs. We don't want the audience to hear something they don't know, because it might put them of and if they switch stations, they are lost for us. Music as a kind of aural wallpaper.

[moecurlythanu]

Commercial radio is not selling music, it is a platform that has 'commercial real estate' for sale i.e. space where commercials can be aired. The music is there to provide a pleasant aural backdrop, to be as inoffensive as possible so you keep listening, so their stations remains relevant to those who are buying their airtime slots at these stations.

This is true. I remember a few years ago when one of the leading hosts on Cleveland Sports Talk radio said on-air, in conversation with a co-host, that they are not a Sports Talk company. They are a marketing company. Their purpose wasn't talking Sports, but rather selling product. To that end, it reached a point where most of the ads on the station were not recorded ads that would play nationally for a given product, but "live reads," where the host would pitch the product. That led to recorded ads of the hosts pitching products throughout the day, regardless of the time slot.
I haven't listened regularly for years, but I was offended, and viewed it as another tiny indicator of the decline of Western Civilization.

[Jerjo]

Satellite (aka Sirius XM) radio has become quite ubiquitous in vehicles in the US. And of course, Sirius XM's main stations are getting more and more stuck on well-known hits. They even banished the Deep Tracks channels to the 300 range, where only newer cars or their phone app can reach it. The uproar over this must have struck a nerve because Deep Tracks is now being moved to the more accessible 107.

[Dana5140]

The move to 107 is only temporary, though. They are referring to it as a pop-up station.

[Jerjo]

The move to 107 is only temporary, though. They are referring to it as a pop-up station.

THOSE DIRTY BASTARDS!

[Jimmy Giant]

I dropped Sirius when they moved Deep Tracks out of my range. They keep sending me "We miss you" mailers. F them.

[Batchman]

Sirius XM at least displays song info on your car radio/player while you're driving. But lots of stores use Sirius XM as their in-house music player, and so the listeners don't get that benefit and the music remains unidentified.

[Plasmatopia]

Deep Tracks is just too far off the beaten path, lol.

(I've told this story before, but...)

A coworker many years ago had Sirius radio and was always blasting some classic rock station in the lab. One day while he was at lunch I switched over to Deep Tracks and within 30 seconds of his return to the lab he was saying "what the hell is THIS crap!". It was just a lesser-known song by a band he normally loved and listened to all the time on the classic rock station. And there you have the listening public in a nutshell...

[Mstove]

Sirius XM at least displays song info on your car radio/player while you're driving. But lots of stores use Sirius XM as their in-house music player, and so the listeners don't get that benefit and the music remains unidentified.

I suspect that most listeners have SoundHound or a similar app on their phone if they want to identify a track.

[Batchman]

I suspect that most listeners have SoundHound or a similar app on their phone if they want to identify a track.

Yes and even Google Search will do it if you tell it to listen to a song. But as I said before, this trend started long before such apps were available on smartphones.

[jarmsuh]

A very exuberant Stewart Copeland here, great and energic interview:

[Koreabruce]

Wow, that was great (and exuberant, indeed)! Anytime I hear a Police song, I marvel at the brilliant musicianship and excellent songcraft they had going for them. I also agree that it was wise for them to stop right after Synchronicity when they were absolutely at the top of their game.

Thanks for posting!

[Vic2012]

That was a good interview but Stu needs to switch to decaffeinated...lol

[SteveSly]

Deep Tracks is just too far off the beaten path, lol.

(I've told this story before, but...)

A coworker many years ago had Sirius radio and was always blasting some classic rock station in the lab. One day while he was at lunch I switched over to Deep Tracks and within 30 seconds of his return to the lab he was saying "what the hell is THIS crap!". It was just a lesser-known song by a band he normally loved and listened to all the time on the classic rock station. And there you have the listening public in a nutshell...

Yup, most people want to listen to the same old playlist of songs they grew up with in their youth. We have a classic rock radio station in our town (I think it is the highest rated) that plays basically the same exact playlist that they played 40 years ago.

[jarmsuh]

That was a good interview but Stu needs to switch to decaffeinated...lol

I think he still plays drums when he talks...

[Plasmatopia]

I was kind of surprised Rick didn't know Stewart hadn't done soundtrack stuff for a long time. Not a big deal and it's not that I knew either, but it seems like Rick is usually better prepared and/or is a long-time fan of the people he interviews so he is intimately familiar with their careers.

[rapidfirerob]

Great interview with Stewart. He's very bright and funny. I was hoping Rick would talk about Animal Logic and Curved Air. His ex wife is Sonja Kristina from CA.

[3LockBox]

A coworker many years ago had Sirius radio and was always blasting some classic rock station in the lab. One day while he was at lunch I switched over to Deep Tracks and within 30 seconds of his return to the lab he was saying "what the hell is THIS crap!". It was just a lesser-known song by a band he normally loved and listened to all the time on the classic rock station. And there you have the listening public in a nutshell...

Yep. Years ago I made a CDR compilation of deep-cut tracks from classic rock bands. The CD was selected by my wife at a gathering and after about three songs it was drawing skewed glances from nearly everyone because they only want to hear what they heard in high-school.

[Sean]

Good interview, but it didn't offer up much I hadn't heard before. Yeah, Sting was a brilliant twat. We get it. What else ya got?

[StarThrower]

I was kind of surprised Rick didn't know Stewart hadn't done soundtrack stuff for a long time. Not a big deal and it's not that I knew either, but it seems like Rick is usually better prepared and/or is a long-time fan of the people he interviews so he is intimately familiar with their careers.

A rather disappointing interview focused on old band stories with a hyper talkative rock star. I wouldn't want to see Copeland and David Lee Roth in the same room. Bring on the George Benson interview.

[JAMOOL]

I enjoyed the interview, wish it were longer in fact. wanted to hear more about his post-Police career. despite what he says I think he's actually a pretty decent pop songwriter. at least he has a unique sense of melody. that Klark Kent compilation that just came out is great - highly recommended to all who like early Police. I wish they would've delved into some of those songs - curious which ones were intended for The Police?

interesting that most of Stew's incredible performances on the records were 1st or 2nd takes. if nothing else the interview makes it clear why he doesn't play them live the same way as he did in the studio.

[Plasmatopia]

I enjoyed the interview, wish it were longer in fact. wanted to hear more about his post-Police career. despite what he says I think he's actually a pretty decent pop songwriter. at least he has a unique sense of melody. that Klark Kent compilation that just came out is great - highly recommended to all who like early Police. I wish they would've delved into some of those songs - curious which ones were intended for The Police?

interesting that most of Stew's incredible performances on the records were 1st or 2nd takes. if nothing else the interview makes it clear why he doesn't play them live the same way as he did in the studio.

I knew, rather vaguely, that he didn't get along that well with Sting, but since I never followed those guys too closely most of the info was new to me.

[Jerjo]

I read a caustic interview with the three members of the Police several years ago and yeah, Sting is truly a dick of special magnificence. Certainly more dickish than even Burton Cummings though not quite as horrible as Ginger Baker.

[moecurlythanu]

I read a caustic interview with the three members of the Police several years ago and yeah, Sting is truly a dick of special magnificence. Certainly more dickish than even Burton Cummings though not quite as horrible as Ginger Baker.

The dude escaped a job as a school teacher. You'd think he would be walking on air the rest of his life.

[3LockBox]

I think the older Sting gets, the more he looks like Jonathan Harrison (Dr Smith on. Lost In Space). Evidently, Sting emulated Dr Smith as well.